Global climate change policy: burden sharing post-2012
Special issue of Policy quaterly, volume 4, number 4, November 2008
This issue of Policy Quarterly focuses exclusively on the global challenge of climate change and, in particular, the problem of international ‘burden sharing’ or ‘effort sharing’ - as it is variously called. The issue contains ten articles - one by a politician, three by diplomats and six by researchers and consultants with an interest in climate change. Most of these articles have their origins in presentations or background papers prepared for a symposium held in Wellington in late July 2008 on the subject of Post-2012 Burden Sharing, jointly hosted by the NZ European Union Centres Network and the Institute of Policy Studies.
Negotiations are currently underway to secure a new international agreement on climate change to take effect when the first commitment period under the Kyoto Protocol expires at the end of 2012. Undoubtedly, the biggest stumbling block for any new multilateral agreement is the sharp disagreement over how to share the costs of mitigation and adaptation. The difficulties are multiple, complex and overlapping.